http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Alvin Greene may be the end of democracy as we know it, or else he is a throwback to a time when America and its politics was a simpler world.

Greene, 32, is a jobless, accused felon who last month won the South Carolina Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, without having a campaign manager, a media adviser, a press secretary, a communications director, a yard sign, a slogan, a TV commercial or even -- gasp -- a Website. It is not entirely certain that he gave a speech or even left the house much.

Yet he won by a landslide -- an astonishing 18 percentage points -- over four-term state legislator and former judge Vic Rawl, who had amassed a war chest of approximately $186,000 and had a small army of volunteers. Greene had amassed a war chest of approximately nothing and had no volunteers, except possible his 81-year-old father with whom he lives.

Further, in this age when candidates must be media savvy if not downright slick, Greene had an odd way of speaking. Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones magazine was one of the first reporters to talk to Greene after his victory. "His verbal ticks and strange affect were immediately apparent," she wrote. "He frequently repeats and interrupts himself, speaking haltingly and sometimes descends into incoherent rambling."

And after eight years of George W. Bush, haven't we had enough of that?

Just kidding. While Greene sometimes may be incoherent, at other times he is all too coherent, like when he outlined his job-creation plan to a reporter from The Guardian, a British newspaper.

"Another thing we can do for jobs is make toys of me, especially for the holidays." Greene said. "Little dolls. Me. Like maybe little action dolls. Me in an army uniform, air force uniform, and me in my suit. They can make toys of me and my vehicle, especially for the holidays and Christmas for the kids. That's something that would create jobs. So you see I think out of the box like that. It's not something a typical person would bring up. That's something that could happen, that makes sense. It's not a joke."

Actually, I was hoping it was. Some say this is all just a tempest in a teabag, considering it didn't matter whom the Democrats nominated, because he was going to get crushed by the conservative Republican incumbent Jim DeMint anyway.

Don Fowler, former national chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former South Carolina state party chair, disagrees. He told me DeMint is vulnerable and if Greene's primary opponent had gotten the nomination, the Democrats might have taken the seat.

So how did Greene win? There is no shortage of theories: Greene is a Republican plant, elected with Republicans voting in the Democratic primary. (Which would be legal -- there is no party registration in South Carolina.)

Or maybe the voting machines were manipulated, or maybe it was just dumb luck -- in a race where neither candidate was very well known, Greene's name came first on the ballot, and maybe that was enough to do it.

Fowler, one of the Democrats' senior statesman, known for his gentlemanly manners, declined to say much about Greene personally.

"The only thing I know about him is what's been in the media, and the media is fascinated with him because of his peculiarities," Fowler said. "I never heard of the guy. He has no background or reputation."

Except that now Greene has too much of a reputation, with everyone knowing that he is accused of showing a pornographic Website to a University of South Carolina student and then talking with her about going to her dorm room. He has not entered a plea or been indicted.

On Sunday night, Greene gave his first televised speech. It was to the local NAACP chapter in his hometown of Manning. I watched it, and except for some understandable nervousness, Greene did OK, reading from notes handwritten in a spiral notebook. He was frequently interrupted by applause.

There was one semi-odd moment, however, when Greene said, "Let's reclaim our country from the terrorists and communists!"

The crowd looked at him in silence. The communists? Like those hapless spies we just exchanged? Or maybe Greene meant communist action figures.

Ed Pilkington of The Guardian, who spent two hours with Greene and came away generally sympathetic, wrote, "He repels and inspires, moments of lucidity interspersed with moments of the complete opposite."

It's those moments of the "complete opposite" that South Carolina Democratic Party leaders are worried about. They think they have a chance of winning the governorship and don't want Greene and his moments of non-lucidity getting all the media attention.

When asked last month on "Meet the Press With David Gregory" whether Greene was a "legitimate candidate," senior Obama advisor David Axelrod said: "It's doesn't appear so to me. It's a mysterious deal, he didn't campaign, the whole thing is odd, and I don't really know how to explain it. I don't think anyone else does either."

Nobody else does. Which is maybe how democracy once worked -- some unknown guy walked out of the backwoods, stood on a stump, talked about taxes and got sent to Washington. If he was lucid when he left, he often wasn't so when he came back.

But that was a long time ago. And now, if you win an election without having a Website, you are immediately suspect.

"Greene allegedly has a degree in political science from the University of South Carolina," Don Fowler told me. "I teach political science at the University of South Carolina. I am afraid to look to see if he was one of my students."

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.